Water cannons spout as Biman’s wheels touch Frankfurt’s taxiway

Aviation news : Water cannons were spouted here as wheels of Biman Bangladesh Airlines touched Frankfurt Airport’s taxiways last evening after seven long years.

The national flag carrier received the water canons reception at the Frankfurt airport, the Europe’s air connecting hub, as the Biman’s first flight of Dhaka-Frankfurt-Dhaka route BG 055 arrived here at around 7 pm (local time around) on Monday.

Water canons reception is a traditional etiquette of aviation sector where airports welcome any new airline to its taxiway by washing the aircraft spouting water through water canons from both side to show honor to the new airline.

Chief Operation Officer of Frankfurt Airport Peter Schmitz welcomed the Biman’s delegation headed by Board Chairman Air Marshal Jamal Uddin Ahmed (retd) at the airport lounge.

In a welcome ceremony at the lounge, the Chief Operation Officer expressed his happiness to welcome Biman’s new route to Germany and said it will increase trade and bilateral relations between Bangladesh and Germany.

Air Marshal (retd) Ahmed expressed his hope that the Biman’s direct connectivity to Germany will open new doors of trade, tourism and cultural exchanges between Bangladesh and Germany.

“The new flight will further strengthen the bilateral relations between Bangladesh and Germany as the direct connectivity increases people to people contact between the two nations,” he said.

He said the resumption of the Biman’s route to Germany, creating the 19th overseas destination of the national flag
carrier, is part of the ongoing modernization process of the national flag carriers.

“I hope the new flight will give a boost to Bangladesh- German bilateral trade and also attract German tourist to visit
exciting tourist spots of Bangladesh,” he said.

Biman’s British Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Managing Director Kevin Steel also spoke at the inaugural ceremony at the airport.

Biman’s country Manager in UK Atiqur Rahman Chisti, DGM Cargo Iftekhar Hossain Chowdhury, Sales Manager Germany Till Litsch and Vice President of German Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce and Industry Farooq Siddiqui were present, among others, on the occasion.

Biman will operate the flights on the new route to German business hub Frankfurt twice in a week with its newly inducted Boeing 777-300ER.

The Flight BG 055 will leave Dhaka on every Friday and Monday at 10 am for Frankfurt and reach there at 18:40 local time.

Similarly flight BG 056 will leave Frankfurt at 20:10 local time on Friday and Monday and arrive in Dhaka at 13:00 hour local time next day. Frankfurt came under Biman’s wings in 1986 and Biman had served the route for more than 19 years at a stretch.

The flight was suspended in 2006 in the wake of aircraft constraints. Now with the acquisition of new aircraft, the
airline is considering resumption of flights to places where it had presence in the past.